At Falk's recommendation I read through volume 1 of Blame! in English. I liked it and recommend it to those who enjoy both sci-fi manga and western sci-fi novels.

Blame! sets itself apart as being quite different from most manga titles. There are no romantic involvements, no cute mascots and no "sexy" female characters that so often carry stories in manga these days. I detected very little in the way of comic relief or philosophical ideas.

So now that I've discussed what it doesn't have, how about what it does have? Blame! seems to me to be a story with appeal for hardcore sci-fi fans. Very little is revealed to the reader about the story and setting but what is revealed is fascinating. All of humanity lives in an impossibly large structure of some kind where no one understands what it's like to be outdoors. Different groups of robots, cyborgs and mutated humans try to survive as they clash with each other and their harsh, technological surroundings.

In the midst of this a young man with cybernetic enhancements and combat experience named Killy is on a quest to find out if rumors of a large habitation complex are real. Along the way he starts wondering how his strange world came to be and who really controls it.

If you like sci-fi with lots of atmosphere and aren't afraid of sombre settings, give Blame! a try. However, if you're like me, you'll be pulling your hair out waiting for volume 2!

I can still remember when I finished the first book, at noun, I was at a friend's home so not really feeling at "my own home", which I guess added a bit more to the "WTF ?!" feeling, and "where's the book 2 ?!"
At that time I think 6 books were already out in France (thanksfully !), so I bought 1, 2, 3 & 4 in a row, 5 & 6 not much later, then I had to wait for book 7, 8, 9 & 10.
The wait was hard, so I found a messageboard with other french hard-core fan of the manga. Damn, we wrote 38 pages , 746 answers, and it was not full of ranting and pointless messages, it was big posts, like full screen after full screen, scientific theories, roughs drawings to explain a few of those theories and all... We went nuts

I hope for you the translation pace won't be to slow... Oh well we FSS fans are well trained to such hazards^^.

I also hope there won't be to much translation errors or inconcistencies. Here's one for instance :
[GAR]: We've detected signs of a residential sector 3000 levels up. The systems are operational. But we don't know if there are any people left. We need you to confirm.

[Killy]: "When the cold and quiet land became bright, man's shadow was cast upon yon distant hill"

[Killy]: What is "Land"?

They used the term Land rather than Earth (as in the french version). Well it's not really an error, but in a manga where so few informations are available to the reader, a translation error can really put you in the wrong direction.
With the word earth (in the french edition, or the english scanlation by Omanga) we think about our lovely blue-grey-ish planet. With land you tend to think it's a purely fantastic universe.

In fact we are several to think that maybe the author didn't knew himself exactly where he was going in the beginning. Well he had the whole idea and settings, but some elements get more "personnality" later. Maybe the exact right words from the beginning would've save us several of the 38 pages we wrote^^ (as for FSS, it must be an arid work to be the translator on such a story^^)

(Did I talked about the Omanga scanlation BTW ? I hope I did^^
Well Omanga(.net) translated the whole manga, I dont know if it's still available now that the manga is being officially published, but if the wait is to long )

Talking about "personnality", it gains some more as the manga goes on. At first Killy looks a bit like a teenage with loose-pants, at the end he's looking more like a mercenary with whom you would not mess The author's art is getting better and better, particularly the characters' faces, and the proportions are a bit "fivestarstorysed" (which can't be a bad thing^^).
There's even a sort tim-burtonesque chapter near the end, beautiful .

I won't say more as the true interest of Blame is the journey in this weird environnement, some like it, some don't^^.

I just had a chance to read volume 2. The story is getting more detailed and easy to understand. I like the idea of The Authority not being the real bad guys. I can't wait for volume 3. Blame! is the kind of sci-fi manga I've been waiting to see for a long time.

Had a DJ gig in Indiana so I stopped by Borders to get some reading material for the haul. I remembered reading this post a while ago and flipped through it at the store and decided to give the first 2 a whirl. I am glad I did. Thank you for the suggestion. I really enjoyed it. Being a Geiger fan, the art appealed to me. You quickly become engulfed in the Blame! world. The story so far is great. While there, I had to track down book 3 for the ride home. I see what you mean about waiting for the next issues Tach, I might have to look into Omanga. Thanks again Falk.

Just to inform you that Blame! is over in the US for a few months already (november), but also that Noise, a sort of prequel to Blame!, is also available (since late december).

It's a one-off, so there's only 1 book. If you haven't read Blame! yet (but I'm sure you have ), and think about reading Noise first to get a taste of Nihei's universe without having to buy 10 books, I'd strongly suggest NOT to do it. Noise is great, but it's nowhere near as immersive as the 10 books of Blame!.

Nihei made Noise between Blame! 7 & 8, and it would spoil the fun a bit to read Noise before Blame!.
See Noise more as a way to get a few answers to your interrogations about Blame!

And to those who have read Blame!, what are your thoughts ? On the whole story ? On the end ? Cuz' every good thing has to end

Not epic, not disappointing, not happy, not sad, I'm not sure any other way to end this story would've fit. If anyone was disapointed, don't forget the little chapter called "Netsphere Engineer", a sort of "post scriptum" to the end of the manga

Also don't forget "Blame!? Gakuen" (Blame Academy) a short parody of Blame, in color, by Nihei himself^^.

I'm not a big manga fan but having heard that Tsutomu Nihei was an architect, I went ahead and ordered the whole series along with the prequel. (draftsman unite!) Only problem is they ran out of Volumes 5,8, and 9 when my order shipped. So yeah I've been stuck on Vol. 4 for over a month now and its driving me crazy, this is really a damn good series.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if there would be any interest in a 1/1 kit of the Graviton Beam Emitter. I'm in the process of making drawings and 3D models and I can't decide how far to really take this project. Ideas range from a single piece cast to a spring loaded version that switches between standard and unlocked mode, with LEDs to boot.

About a 1/1 GBE, of course it would be of interest, but it's a tough enterprise. I've seen several attempts, but the simplicity of the gun make it difficult to turn into a great replica. No disrespect for the cosplayers, but it often turns into a black block with a handle.

The possibility to switch between standard and unlocked mode would of course be impressive. Pretty hard to do again I think, could make the replica really fragile.
And yup, a LED display at the back displaying the charging sequence.

Even the material of the gun is kind of a mystery. Some kind of dark brushed metal ? Mass-painted ? Some composite material ? Seeing how it doesn't melt in lava flow, I wonder what's it's made of^^.

Also Nihei is quite inconsistent when drawing the gun. Sometimes it has a few details, like a LED or some kind of targeting device, and sometimes its totally plain.

My missing volumes showed up a few days after I typed that, so I have since finished the series. I enjoyed it as a whole but I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe I'm just used to there being some kind of hidden meaning and I'm looking too hard for one. Rather then clear things up the prequel only confused me more. I'll certainly have to go back and read them again.

Anyway on the GBE, I've been a model builder for a decade now, I could always run some ideas by the engineers at work if I get stuck on the moving bits, plus my father is an electrician so that covers the LEDs. Also, I have easy access to a stereolithography printer, so if I can make a decent 3D model, assembly should be no problem. Basically its just a matter of doing it.

Though I must admit my enthusiasm has kind of bottomed out. If I'm going to go to all the trouble I want to offer it up as a multimedia kit, not just a one-of thing that collects dust. The question of whether or not anybody would buy one, along with possible legal issues has me holding back.